Is Nicolas Winding Refn stepping away from The Bringing? Looks like it

When I first heard the story of Elisa Lam and the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles I thought "Wow! That would make for a creepy flick!". So did Sony, who scooped up the rights to THE BRINGING, a horror spec script written by Brandon and Phillip Murphy and based on the creepy series of events that will be championed by Michael De Luca. Last month the project got even more interesting when DRIVE and ONLY GOD FORGIVES helmer Nicolas Winding Refn began talks with the studio to helm THE BRINGING. Now it seems that those talks have broken down and Refn is no longer attached to the project. Bummer.

The report comes from Justin Kroll of Variety, who said via Twitter:

Well this is a bummer, hearing Nic Refn will not direct THE BRINGING at Sony as negotiations have stalled. Too bad

No other news was available, and Refn has been quiet about it, but if it turns out that Kroll’s scoop is legitimate, that’s a major let-down for horror buffs everywhere. No doubt Sony will get someone else to do the work, but it seems like it won’t be Refn.

Even though THE BRINGING will have to be brought by a different director, Refn’s fans will get to see him helm a horror flick in the form of the all-female I WALK WITH THE DEAD, which currently has Carey Mulligan attached to star. This project sounds a lot more like a Refn project than THE BRINGING ever did, so at least we'll get to see Refn dabbling in our beloved genre either way!